This invention relates in general to footwear and more particularly to shape retainer and method for stabilizing the shaft of a boot.
The footwear industry offers a variety of stylish boots which women find particularly appealing during the winter months and in inclement weather. The typical boot has a vamp and quarters that are attached to a sole which leads back to an elevated heel. The vamp surrounds the wearer""s foot and merges into a shaft which extends upwardly past the wearer""s ankle along the wearer""s calf. Usually the shaft has a zipper which extends from its upper margin downwardly to the sole to enable the wearer to insert her foot through the shaft and into the vamp.
The vamp, while being flexible, is small enough and has enough rigidity to maintain its shape when the boot is not worn. The same holds true with regard to the quarters. But the shaft does not. It usually folds over immediately above the quarters. This makes boots difficult to display in shoe stores and shoe departments of department stores. Moreover, it leaves the boots with creases which in time may develop into cracks in the leather. Apart from that, a fold in the shaft of a boot restricts the circulation of air through the interior of the vamp, and thus inhibits evaporation of moisture from within the vamp.
To be sure, foam stuffers exist for insertion into the shafts of boots, but they are difficult to install and often do not provide enough rigidity to maintain the shaft upright. Mechanical boot shapers with sides that are urged apart by springs also exist, but they are even more difficult to insert, and furthermore do not reach down into the quarters where the greatest support is required. Then there are cardboard expanders which are bent into a somewhat bowed configuration and fitted into the shafts to hold the shafts open in shoe boxes, but they are not suitable for displays.
The present invention resides in a boot having a shaft which extends upwardly from the vamp and quarters of the boot and is stabilized in an upright position with a sheet of flexible and resilient polymer material that is in at least a bowed condition and expanded against the inside surface of the shaft. The invention also resides in the method of stabilizing a boot shaft with a bowed sheet of resilient polymer material.